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Original D&D Discussion :: Gaming with Dave and Gary and Rob :: Dragons At Dawn :: Random Trolls

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Topic: Random Trolls (Read 374 times)

akiyama
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Random Trolls
« Thread Started on Jul 4, 2010, 3:46pm »

In the spirit of "players should never assume that the particular dragon they are facing is just like the one they subdued last week".

To determine a troll's hit dice, roll 3d6 and drop the highest die, to generate a number between 2 and 12.

A troll's height in feet is equal to its hit dice plus 4-6.

Then roll 1d6 to determine the troll's skin type. Generally, all trolls living in the same area will have the same skin type and the same abilities and weaknesses.

1. Hairy
2. Leathery
3. Furry
4. Scaly
5. Rocky
6. Slimy

Hairy trolls have a large amount of body hair. Of all trolls. hairy trolls are the most human-looking (which isn't saying much). They occasionally interbreed with humans. Base AC (without armour) is 1, the same as for a human.

Leathery trolls have tough, leathery skin. Base AC is 2-4. Leathery trolls wearing armour are AC 3-8 (they often have good armour). 2 in 6 turn to stone in direct sunlight, and a further 2 in 6 hate bright light. 1 in 6 can regenerate, just like slimy trolls.

Furry trolls have thick fur. Base AC is 2-4. Furry trolls have a bestial appearance, and sometimes have tusks, horns or huge claws. Furry trolls wearing armour are AC 3-5. (leather armour or shield only).

Other than the fact that they have scaly skin and large claws, scaly trolls don't look particularly reptilian. Base AC is 4-6. Scaly trolls usually don't bother wearing armour. All scaly trolls hate bright light, and 4 in 6 turn to stone in direct sunlight. 2 in 6 can regenerate just like slimy trolls. 4 in 6 have venemous fangs (but normal claws). 1 in 6 have some kind of breath weapon. 1 in 6 have the ability to blend into the background like chameleons.

Rocky trolls have very tough skin that looks and feels like rock. Base AC is 7-9. They rarely bother to wear armour. All rocky trolls turn to stone in direct sunlight. When motionless, they are very difficult to see in a gloomy, rocky environment such as a cave.

Slimy trolls have slimy, rubbery skin like a slug. Base AC is 1, the same as for a human. These are the regenerating trolls. Slimy trolls with 2-3 HD can regenerate 3 HP/turn when resting, those with 4-7 HD can regenerate 1 HP/round in combat, those with 8-11 HD can regenerate 2 HP/round in combat and those with 12 or more HD can regenerate 3 HP/round in combat. Slimy trolls can breathe underwater, and 3 in 6 can climb walls like a spider. 1 in 6 have poisonous fangs; of these, 3 in 6 also have poisonous claws and 3 in 6 have poisonous breath!

Hairy trolls are the most cunning and devious trolls. Trolls of this type have a Brains score of 3-8 if they are less than 8 feet tall, 2-7 if they are 8-12 feet tall and 2-4 if they are 13 feet tall or higher.

Leathery trolls have a Brains score of 2-7 if they are less than 13 feet tall, 2-4 if they are 13 feet tall or higher.

All other trolls have a Brains score of 2-7 if they are less than 8 feet tall, 2-4 if they are 8 feet tall or higher.

You may wish to use the same procedure to generate Dexterity scores, but add two points to the Dexterity of furry, scaly and slimy trolls.

Trolls with sufficient intelligence may be able to use magic. A troll with 6 Brains has a 1 in 6 chance of being a 1st or 2nd level Wizard, a troll with 7 Brains has a 2 in 6 chance of being a 1st to 3rd level Wizard, and a troll with 8 Brains has a 3 in 6 chance of being a 1st of 6th level Wizard. Trolls who are 4th level Wizards or higher have a 1 in 6 chance of having an additional 1 point of Brains - in this case re-roll their level as 6th to 8th level.

If you have access to an appropriate random table, at least 1 in 6 trolls are mutants with weird features or strange powers, and in 1 in 6 cases the weird feature is that the troll has two heads (or perhaps even three heads).

Optional Skin Colour Table
2. Blue
3. Red
4. White
5. Green
6. Grey
7. Roll again twice
8. Black
9. Brown
10. Yellow
11. Ginger
12. Purple

Optional Body Type Table
1. Broad-boned, stocky, muscular
2. Fat
3. Pot-bellied
4. Super-muscular, no neck
5. Wiry build, long arms and fingers
6. Hunchbacked

To convert D@D AC to D&D AC, subtract AC from 10 (so AC 1 becomes AC 9 and vice versa). You might want to add one to the AC of rocky trolls and subtract one from the AC of furry, scaly and slimy trolls to account for differences in reaction speed.

To convert D@D Brains to D&D Intelligence, double it (so 4 Brains becomes 7-8 Intelligence).

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kesher
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Re: Random Trolls
« Reply #1 on Jul 6, 2010, 11:37am »

Oh, this is excellent!

I'd suggest submitting it to Fight On!...

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aldarron
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Re: Random Trolls
« Reply #2 on Jul 13, 2010, 1:06pm »

Exalt for that. Exactly the sort of stuff I love to see and a really great idea! Personally, I'd replace the slimy/rubbery troll with the True troll type, but otherwise wouldn't change a thing. AND, there's no reason to stop at trolls. Same thing can be done with lots of other monsters. Arneson already gave us a few varieties of Orc - Isengarders, great orc, etc. - that can be expanded on. I can see using this for all humanoid monsters and maybe something similar for other types.

What I love about this is that it is sort of halfway between the by the book approach and the random generators that produce the WTF? monsters.

This is definetly something I'd like to include in the Dragons at Twilight supplement (let me know) and I agree with Kesher that expanding and submitting to Fight On is something to consider.

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akiyama
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Re: Random Trolls
« Reply #3 on Jul 14, 2010, 1:23am »

Thankyou!

I feel it would need to be expanded and made a bit more texty for me to submit to Fight On! - a magazine I am in awe of - and I'm not sure I want to do that.

Aldarron, of course you may include it in Dragons at Twilight if you want, and feel free to modify it or expand on it as you like.

It was of course inspired by E.G. Palmer's Unexpergated Dragon Generator:

http://oldguardgamingaccoutrements.blogs....-generator.html

« Last Edit: Jul 14, 2010, 1:24am by akiyama »

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